The Obama administration was battling to contain a collapse in trust between the US intelligence services and Congress on Tuesday after a senator it counted as one of its most loyal supporters accused the CIA of a catalogue of cover-ups, intimidation and smears to hide its role in the torture of terrorism suspects.

The irony of Senator Feinstein complaining about the intelligence community surveilling or interfering with the oversight committee’s work was not lost on many people. Apparently it’s okay for the government to collect information on OUR communications, but not members of Congress engaged in their oversight functions?